Here’s the second column that describes what it feels like to be a certain age as we explore how these people feel about their current version of life. I hope it highlights our common ground and helps build a tolerant and supportive community for everyone. High hopes indeed…
This month’s resident is a 79-year-old married woman. She is very independent. Having emigrated to Canada as a newlywed, she was not afforded the luxury of family support. Having previously worked in a pediatric hospital, she quickly found work at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto and later found less stressful work in a clinic.
She has children but does not see them very often though they live in the region. She would like to see more of them, but understands that they lead busy lives. They do not seem sensitive to her needs and are not predisposed to offer much help, nor would she be inclined to ask for it.
Her health is quite good, but her husband recently suffered a health crisis which is impacting their lifestyle. They used to travel extensively, but now their travelling days are behind them. They enjoyed visiting many places, particularly in Eastern Canada, but now she wishes they had travelled further afield, perhaps to Europe.
Being a retired health care worker prevents her from being naïve about the potential health challenges ahead but she does not like to dwell on these issues and becomes quite annoyed when conversations focus on health complaints. This lady sets her gaze upwards and outwards rather than stewing about things inside.
One of the contributing factors to her good mental and physical health is her activity level. She enthusiastically participates in any and all activities offered by the local Community Care and Legion. She particularly enjoys dancing. Music lifts her spirits, and her musical tastes are varied and not particularly grandmotherly. She enjoys listening to Adele and Elton John and thoroughly enjoys the legion events featuring Jeff Scott’s band.
She describes the most important thing to her as “community”, which she defines as the people with whom she enjoys her almost daily outings. As her world shrinks due to physical limitations, the importance of this group intensifies.
She looks to her next birthday with some trepidation. Eighty strikes her as an entirely different level of “older”. Looking ahead, she realizes that she and her husband will have to move from their home in the next few years or maybe sooner because they will no longer be able to maintain their property. There is no obvious potential destination at the moment, and no indication of a desire to devise a plan. She and her husband have moved several times within the Peterborough region over the last twenty five years, but are well entrenched in the community now, and starting over somewhere else would be emotionally challenging. A move to an apartment or condominium in town would allow her to continue to find support in her current network of friends. She hopes that when the decision to move becomes unavoidable, some options will be available. Whatever challenges come her way, she emotes a confidence in her ability to face them.
